Dutch police arrest dozens in major anti-drug raid

Dutch police have arrested 55 people in a major anti-drug ring operation, officials in Eindhoven said Monday.

Around 1,500 police and judicial officers took part in Monday's Operation Meeting Point, one of the biggest raids ever conducted against manufacturers and dealers of synthetic drugs in the Netherlands.

The raids took place across 154 houses, businesses and warehouses, police said.

Police are currently investigating around 700 people in connection with the network of drug dealers. Officials said that further arrests could follow.

Three of the key suspects linked to a ecstasy drug ring were among those arrested, police said, with one of the arrests made in the Czech Republic.

They did not give further details on the other suspects.

The raids targeted producers and dealers of cannabis, as well as those involved in the underground trade of synthetic drugs such as ecstasy and amphetamines.

Six laboratories were busted and police confiscated a cache of weapons, chemicals and drugs, as well as around half a million euros (569,600 dollars) in cash.

Authorities spent two years observing a shop specializing in party supplies, which stood at the centre of police investigations, before carrying out the searches.

Police said they seized 15 kilograms of ecstasy tablets from the shop in the village of Best near Eindhoven in the country's south.

Authorities also discovered a laboratory for the production of amphetamines with 4,000 litres of chemicals in Rotterdam and seized 75 barrels of oil and five tonnes of acetone to be used for the production of synthetic drugs in Eindhoven.

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